


Just Felicity

by HellYeahItsHannah



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-19
Updated: 2015-06-27
Packaged: 2018-03-13 17:03:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3389495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HellYeahItsHannah/pseuds/HellYeahItsHannah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Olicity AU. Felicity Smoak is just another pawn strategically placed in Amanda Waller's game of revenge. But what happens when the pawn refuses to play the game? I do not own these wonderful characters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

Felicity sat on Cooper's bed; she was typing furiously, her hair a black curtain covering her face from view of Myron. After her boyfriend Cooper was arrested, she became paranoid that she wasn't covering her tracks well enough. She kept thinking her and Myron would be next if they left any sort of bread crumb to follow. Yet, Myron and Felicity continued with their hacking profession rather than lay low for a while. After all, it wasn't a very easy hobby to break.

"Weren't you going to go see Cooper today?" Myron asked, looking at the watch on his wrist.

Felicity looked up briefly, then back to her screen, "I'm still going, if you want to come."

"You wouldn't mind?" He sounded skeptical.

Felicity shrugged, she really did mind, she wasn't going to say anything, though. She and Myron were graduating in a week in a half, and then she was leaving Massachusetts, Cooper, and Myron behind. Fresh start.

"Then we better leave now," he stood and stretched his back.

Felicity reluctantly closed her laptop and draped her feet over the side of the bed; she leaned over, her hair falling forward blocking her line of sight, she tried, and failed, to tuck it behind her ear before pulling on her black combat boots.

Felicity and Myron left his dorm and headed towards the parking lot side by side. Felicity swore she could feel eyes on her, she felt like that a lot, though. She glanced around the parking lot like a child who'd just stolen something. Her eyes found a large man; he was leaning against a wall with a slight smirk playing across his lips. He was watching them.

"Myron, that guy is watching us," she whispered, she tried not moving her lips as she talked. Felicity felt him stiffen; he glanced over and sucked in a breath.

"Don't worry about it," he mumbled.

"Don't worry about it? Are you kidding? This is exactly how it happens in the movies, and you know it. We're going to go to jail," she was mumbling so fast and frantically she thought she might pass out. Myron didn't respond, he kept his sights set on his car. It took everything in Felicity to not sprint the last few feet to Myron's car. To her relief Myron unlocked the doors and she hopped in. Her nerves were stirring up inside her, threatening to boil over. She glanced out the window; the man wasn't leaning against the wall anymore, he was getting in a black SUV.

"Myron. Myron, he's going to follow us."

"He won't," Myron said as he put the car into gear. Felicity could hear the uncertainty coating his voice

"Myron, look at his car. Oh my God, Myron, he's FBI. Or CSI. Some type of 'I'. That's the exact type of SUV that those men have. Every action movie has those SUV's-"

"Felicity. Stop. I swear to God, stop talking. He won't follow us." If Myron was trying to calm her, he was doing very poorly.

Felicity sat back against the seat stiffly and yanked on her seat belt. Myron pulled out of the parking lot, Felicity wondered if he was even breathing. She wasn't. She had her eyes trained on the side-view mirror as she absently chipped off her black nail polish. Just as she was thinking she might just be paranoid, the black car pulled out of the parking lot and right behind them.

"Myron," Felicity whisper-yelled, her eyes still glued on the dark figure moving slowly behind them.

"I know," he sounded hysterical, which added to the panic building into her chest. Myron never acted agitated.

"Take this right," Felicity commanded. He put on the blinker and turned. So did the SUV. "Take the next right, too." He did. So did the SUV. "Take the next right," Felicity kept her eyes on the mirror, waiting, hoping, the man would chose a different road. He didn't.

"Maybe I should go left," Myron suggested. His fingers were drumming on the steering wheel, a nervous tick.

"No. Take another right." Felicity's foot was tapping in anticipation. Myron obeyed her. The SUV soon followed. She cursed under her breath. "Go to a grocery store or something."

"What was the point of that, exactly?"

"To find out if he was really following us or not."

"We still don't know if we're being followed followed."

"What is your definition of being followed? He followed us in a complete circle, therefore he's following us, Myron," she snapped.

"Now what?"

She glanced back at the SUV and sighed, "We can't go see Cooper. I mean we could, I really miss him. I want to see him. So badly. I miss touching him-" Myron groaned, "Sorry. I just miss him. You miss him, too, but we shouldn't go see him. But wait, what if this is the last time either of us will be able to see him? I mean, we're both going to graduate and move on from MIT, but we could both be going to jail and this may be our last chance. Or my chance at least. You'd be in jail with him. And then I'd be alone." Rambling was her nervous tick. "Let's go back to the dorms."

They drove back to the campuses, they weren't followed this time. But Felicity thought it was probably a false sense of security, so when she got out of the car she looked around the parking lot. Not many students at MIT had extraordinarily nice cars. And they certainly didn't get them over night. So, seeing two shiny black cars freaked her out even more.

"The cars, Myron. The cars," she hissed under her breath.

"They're just cars, Felicity."

They walked tensely back to his dorm. As soon as the door shut behind them Felicity crawled back into Cooper's bed and fell asleep. She didn't expect Myron to wake her up a few hours later and tell her to leave. Myron practically slammed the door in her face; Felicity was frozen in place outside the door for a moment. Felicity wanted to punch Myron. How could he kick her out while she was scared shitless? Felicity walked skittishly down the hallways, she hung her head and let her black hair shield her face, not making eye contact with anyone she passed.

She walked into her dark dorm room; her roommate was never there, she was always off campus getting drunk, or high, or whatever she felt like doing that day. And Felicity was usually happy to find her dorm empty, but not today. Not when a stealthy man seemed to be following her every move.

She sat on her bed and set her laptop next to her. She should have stopped as soon as Cooper was caught, she knows that now. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. She was going to jail. It was a concept she couldn't grasp. A knock on her door turned her thoughts from depressed to panicked in a record two seconds.

She didn't move, she didn't breathe. It's happening right now, she thought. Slowly she pulled out her phone and called Myron.

He answered on the second ring, "What?" he sounded distracted.

"Are you here? At my dorm?" She hoped she was being quiet, hoped that the panic didn't make her voice loud, hoped he was the one at her door.

"No. Why? What's wrong?"

A second knock.

"Someone's here," she murmured as she tiptoed to her door.

"You're roommates probably just drunk and forgot her keys. You're paranoid," he said with a sort of calmness that pissed her off.

"It's not being paranoid if someone's really out to get you." Felicity ended the call and shoved the phone into her jean pocket. Myron obviously didn't care whether his two best friends ended up in jail or not, just as long as he was left alone.

Just as Felicity was nearing the peep hole a woman's voice sounded from the other side of the door, "Ms. Smoak, I know you're in your dorm. I watched you walk in."

The fight or flight moment had come at last.

And Felicity chose flight.

She backed away from the doorway; her eyes scanned the dorm room frantically. The window. She sprinted over to it, and, as quietly as she could, opened it, then kicked out the screen. She was halfway out the window when she realized a man was outside. He was wearing a black suit; Felicity's first thought was the secret service.

He looked entertained at her attempt to flee, "She didn't think you'd run." He gave her a look that said if she wasn't going to crawl back the way she came, he'd push her. "I was really hoping you wouldn't run."

She gritted her teeth, glancing over her shoulder, and then reluctantly climbed back through the window, "Sorry to inconvenience you."

He climbs in after her, but with less grace, not that Felicity demonstrated much grace either.

She stood and walked a few feet away from him; she noticed that it was a different man from earlier today. He strides towards her, and roughly grips her upper arm, "You're not a biter, right? You seem like the type. Bet you gave your dentist hell."

Felicity scowled at the man, not only for his small talk, but because he was digging his fingers into her flesh. "I can walk myself, thanks," she snapped, and yanked her arm free.

He corralled her to the door, Felicity stood with her head held high, jaw locked and eyes narrowed in on the man, she looked calm, but she could feel herself about to throw up. He walked over to the door so slowly Felicity thought she'd explode, finally the man opened it. Felicity held her breath when the woman walked in; her hair was back in a tight bun, her eyes hard and unnerving, her back straight, power radiated off her in waves. Felicity could tell she held authority. She held herself the way woman with power do, she was intimidating.

When she spoke it was with a calm, arrogant voice, "My name is Amanda Waller, Ms. Smoak. We have a lot to discuss."


	2. Chapter Two

In the five years Felicity has been working for Amanda Waller it has become apparent to Felicity that she wasn't the same as Waller's other employees. She was at first. She worked alongside her peers in the A.R.G.U.S. building, but over time Waller seemed to grow to trust Felicity. Seemed. Waller was hard to read, she wasn't an open book like Felicity was, which may have been a reason Waller was using Felicity as her personal hacker. Not that Felicity was complaining, pay was high, her student loans were taken care of, and she didn't end up going to jail like she'd thought, which was always a plus.

"Ms. Smoak," Waller's voice was grave as she walked in Felicity's office. Felicity had been chewing on a pen; she dropped it from her mouth and looked up through her black hair. "Come with me."

Felicity stood and followed Waller to her office. Felicity walked past the rows of I.T. specialists, not long ago that was Felicity. Dressed in an A.R.G.U.S. uniform and just another pawn in the game. Felicity was a pawn, too, just not one that was sacrificed in the very beginning of the game. Felicity stood out like a sore thumb now, but as long as Felicity preformed to her highest capabilities and did as she was told, she got to wear what she wanted, which wasn't professional clothing. Felicity didn't own anything other than ripped up black skinny jeans and combat boots.

Waller stepped inside her office, Felicity followed obediently, her thumb absently rubbing her finger. "Close the door and sit," Waller commanded. Felicity did as she was told and took the seat across the desk. Waller walked around her desk, opened a drawer, and dropped a stack of papers in front of Felicity. Felicity sat up straighter and hesitantly reached for the forms, Waller gave a slight nod. Felicity flipped through the documents, paper clipped to the front was a picture of an attractive man.

The title of one of the papers read "Lost Billionaire Found". Felicity looked up quizzing up at Waller.

"I'm transferring you to the A.R.G.U.S. station in Starling City," Waller said coolly. "Housing, of course, will be provided."

Felicity flips through the papers again, then back to Waller. "Why exactly?"

"I need you to keep an eye on Mr. Queen."

Felicity nodded and tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear, "But I'm not one of your stealthy spies. I'm Felicity. Just Felicity. A hacker."

Waller presses her lips together, "I want you to help him."

It didn't look like Waller wanted Felicity to help him. It looked like she had to.

"You're good at covering your tracks, Ms. Smoak. And Mr. Queen has been leaving more than bread crumbs. I need you to clean up his mess. And any other messes he creates for himself," she pauses, "He's about to take over a small position in his family company. It's been arranged that you'll be his assistant-"

"I'm not going to be Oliver Queen's coffee bitch," Felicity said defensively before she could stop herself.

Completely ignoring Felicity complaint, Waller continues, "I've been lenient with you for the last three years you've been here, but seeing as though you're going to be working for Mr. Queen, you need to dress appropriately." She made it sound like Felicity was dressing like a stripper. "I personally haven't had a problem, but I doubt that you currently own anything that isn't black or 'work place' acceptable. So, for that reason, you're allowed to use the company's card." Waller smiled, "Also, Ms. Smoak, if you could, lighten up on your choice of makeup."

"Should I wear a wig too?" Felicity was being sarcastic.

Waller smiled, not a pleasant smile, a contradicting one, "Ms. Smoak, is your job important to you?" Waller paused, Felicity nodded. "Then I recommend not fighting me on this."

Felicity nodded and bit her tongue.

"I need Mr. Queen to trust you. That is why I'm not using one of my 'stealthy spies', I want him to choose to trust you."

"But, just to be clear, I'm still secretly covering his tracks. And what happens when he doesn't trust me?"

"He will," she says confidently. "Mr. Queen has been known to be a womanizer, Ms. Smoak, that being said, if he makes an advance on you, you let him. I need him to be able to trust you."

Felicity could taste the blood in her mouth from biting her tongue too hard.

"You'll report back to me every week, or sooner if something crucial comes up," a pause, "Any questions?"

"Just two," Felicity says glancing back at the files, "One, was that a yes or no on the wig thing? And two, what exactly am I supposed to be covering up?"

Waller smirked, "Ms. Smoak, wear a wig or dye your hair, it's your preference." Felicity still couldn't tell if Waller was serious about the wig thing.

She waited for Waller to continue, but when she didn't Felicity spoke up, "I still don't know what I'm supposed to be covering up for him."

"I believe you're smart enough to figure out why I'm having you cover his tracks." Felicity wondered briefly if it wasn't only Oliver Queen's tracks she'd be covering while she was in Starling.

"Okay, uh, thank you." Felicity never knew when she was allowed to be dismissed, so she lingers in her chair.

"Anything else?" Waller said sharply, her eyebrow rising in an arc.

Felicity stands, "When do I leave for Starling?"

"The end of the week, I'll have all the information sent over to you."

Felicity walked hesitantly towards the door; once again, she wasn't sure she was allowed to leave. When Waller didn't protest Felicity carried on through the door.

She made her way back to her office; her first thought was to gain more information about the billionaire and his connection to Waller. Sure she'd heard of him before, heard he was found, but she never took interest in it. She still didn't understand why she was the one about to pose as his assistant, it was degrading work. She also didn't understand Waller's reasoning behind her actions. Not that anyone but Waller understood her reasoning.

Felicity rolled her back and then sat in her chair. She typed in Starling City; the first two articles that popped up were "Lost Billionaire Found" and "Starling Killing Spree". The one about Oliver Queen was older so Felicity decides to look at the most recent one.

"What a lovely place to live," she growled as she clicked on the killing spree article. She scanned the page; it takes her all of two seconds to realize that she's now 'working' for a crazy man who plays dress up and murders people.

It crossed her mind that maybe; just maybe, Waller is trying to get her killed.


	3. Chapter Three

Felicity was intimidated by Waller’s job, she'd always had the safety of her monitors, she never had to go out in the open to do her work, but now she did. Now she had to bait herself to Oliver Queen and hope he didn’t murder her if he found out what she was up to. Now what she did was real. It was dangerous.  
She spent the remainder of the week gaining more research on Oliver Queen and losing more sleep. She wanted to be prepared for whatever happened, which may be nothing. Maybe Oliver Queen was still the stupid playboy he made himself out to be. But Felicity knew that was wishful thinking. The island changed him. Made him cold. Every photo she’d seen of him since he returned home showed that; his smiles were forced, his eyes dead, he wasn’t the same after the island. Not that she expected him to be, five years alone could make anyone go crazy.  
She wasn’t ready for today, no matter how long she prepared, she’d never be ready. She’d been dreading it ever since she was assigned. The whole time she had been getting ready she felt like she was going to throw up. Her nerves were consuming her. She stood in front of her mirror. The girl that looked back at her was foreign. That was not Felicity Smoak. That was an imposter. Felicity Smoak had black hair with purple streaks, not blond. She had dark lipstick, not light. She had contacts, not glasses. And, she definitely didn’t, under any circumstance, wear high heels; she wore comfortable shoes.   
She sighed and flattened her hands over the wrinkle free blue dress, she had actually ironed. People didn’t iron. It was a waste of time; she had other things to worry about, like whether or not her annoying wig would fall off. Or how she was going to manage putting a tracking device on Mr. Queen without his knowledge, that was a problem that needed her attention, not ironing.   
Waller was crazy to think Felicity could pull this off, she couldn’t even move her feet from the spot in front of the mirror, there was no way she could pull off the secretary charade. She exhaled slowly and counted down in her head, then turned and made her way towards her door.   
*  
When the elevator chimed, Felicity stepped inside and sighed in relief. It was empty. She pressed her floor number and stepped back against the wall, absently rubbing her thumb and forefinger together at her side. She couldn’t understand why Waller would force Felicity to do this. Felicity wasn’t qualified to be a stealthy spy. Or an assistant.   
The elevator stopped and two men entered, one of them was Oliver Queen. Felicity side stepped into the corner and made herself as small as possible while averting their gazes. She could feel the other man’s eyes on her, so she looked up and gave a wary smile. His arms were like bowling balls.   
“Good morning,” he said with a smirk, he reached out and pressed the same button Felicity had.  
Felicity nodded in reply.  
Oliver turned his head and looked at her; he forced a smile on his face, but to her it looked more like a grimace, “Hello.”  
She nodded again, not knowing what else to do, “Mr. Queen.”  
There was an awkward silence as the elevator moved up.  
“I’m Felicity Smoak,” she said. She immediately wished she hadn’t.  
Oliver and the other man looked back towards her; again, the other man seemed amused. Her face was growing hot under their stares.  
“Not that I think I’m important or anything,” she said hastily, her nervous babble began to devour her. “I’m obviously not… I’m not, like, you know, Oliver Queen or anything. I mean, not Oliver Queen important… is what I’m trying to say. I’m Felicity. Just Felicity… Smoak…” She inwardly slapped herself.   
They were both smiling at her now, and not the fake smile her boss had previously addressed her with, a real one. She considered this an accomplishment.  
“I’m your assistant,” she explained uncomfortably as Mr. Queen found her eyes.  
“John Diggle,” the other man said. “I’m his body guard.”  
“That explains your arms.” She closed her eyes tightly. Stop. Talking.   
“What?” Mr. Diggle asked with a smile, she was apparently still amusing. Mr. Queen tilted his head at her, a smile trying to break its way across his face, but he seemed determined to remain unfazed.   
The elevator dinged, but no one moved. “After you, Ms. Smoak,” Mr. Queen said. She smiled awkwardly and peeled herself off the wall and out of the corner.   
She walked into the big, open office. Polished floor to ceiling windows were the first thing she noticed. She, not knowing what else to do, walked over to the windows and looked down at the view of the city. The view was amazing. Breathtaking, even. But she couldn’t imagine living here if she didn’t have to. And she really didn’t want to work here, either. Not when she worked so hard to get where she was.   
She heard footsteps pass her and then a squeak of a chair. She pulled her attention from the city below and to Mr. Queen instead. She walked slowly over to his desk and stood across from where he was sitting. He was watching her with a calculating look.   
“So, Mr. Queen,” Felicity began, not knowing what to say, she paused and sorted out her thoughts. “What exactly do you need done today that I can, uh, assist you with?” She studied computer sciences at MIT, not the secretarial arts; anyone with half a brain cell could see that.  
He arced a brow at her, then glanced over her shoulder to Mr. Diggle, when his eyes finally found hers again he spoke, “Ms. Smoak, I don’t even know what my purpose is in my family company, let alone yours,” his voice came out cold and hard. She was right, the island had changed him, or not, maybe he’d always been an asshole.  
A long silence stretched out where Mr. Queen just stared at her.  
Again she broke the silence, “I’m assuming this job isn’t your first priority.” His face hardened, and she tried to cover up mistake, “I mean, not, um... I meant that you don’t know what you’re doing… Not in a rude way. Just, this obviously wasn’t your first choice.”  
“My mother wanted me to take a leadership position.”   
Felicity almost scoffed, what exactly was a leadership position? “So, like a social front?”  
“My mother would rather see me in here doing nothing, then out there getting wasted, yes,” his voice was impassive, it unnerved her. He unnerved her. Not because he was handsome, that may have been part of it, but because she knew his secret. Knew he had slaughtered people. Knew Waller wanted her to cover up his tracks.   
Another uncomfortable silence.   
“We have a meeting with Mrs. Queen at nine.”   
“We do.”   
“Don’t state the obvious. Duly noted,” she grumbled under her breath.  
She swallowed and looked out towards the windows, she ran her thumb down her forefinger. After a moment she turned her steady gaze back to him. “How do you want it?” she asked in a low, confident voice.   
Mr. Diggle made a discreet choking sound from behind her. She ignored him and kept her gaze firmly on Mr. Queen. His mouth opened slightly, he glanced once again to his body guard, then back at her. He pressed his lips in a straight line, fighting whatever he was about to say.  
Felicity’s eyebrows rose and her face flushed, “Your coffee,” she clarified. “How do you like your coffee? I wasn’t asking-” She cut herself off before she finished that embarrassing sentence.   
Mr. Queen tried to fight the smile forming on his lips, but failed. “Black is fine, thank you.”  
She nodded and turned her red face towards Mr. Diggle. “What kind of coffee would you like, Mr. Diggle?” So much for confidence, she was mortified.  
A smirk was playing on his lips, “Black. Thank you.”   
She nodded and walked out of his office, finally able to breathe. She tried to walk as quietly as she could, but her heels clacked against the floor loudly.   
The damn heels were mocking her.


	4. Chapter Four

When the elevator opened Felicity followed Mr. Queen towards his desk, a desk he really didn't need. It was now painfully obvious Mr. Queen, and herself, had no real purpose at Queen Consolidated. At all. His presence in his family's company was just a way to keep him out of trouble.

"Do you need something?" he asked, it wasn't in an impolite way, well for the most part, but she could tell he wanted to talk to Mr. Diggle. Alone.

Felicity handed him a few pieces of paper that she'd taken notes on. She didn't know what else she was supposed to do during that "meeting", or if she was supposed to do anything at all. As much as she had researched before moving to Starling, she neglected to find out what she was supposed to do as Mr. Queen's assistant. There was no paper that needed filing, meetings that needed scheduling, there was only coffee needing to be fetched, which pissed Felicity off. There was literally no reason for Oliver Queen to need an assistant. Or to work at Queen Consolidated.

He took the notes and looked curiously down at them. "I took notes for you," Felicity said in answer to his unspoken question. "Not that I thought you couldn't have taken your own notes. I know you're more than capable… of taking notes. Not… I wasn't just calling you stupid because you dropped out of four colleges or because you got a D in tenth grade algebra… I wasn't calling you stupid at all! I just meant… the island… and… transitions…" She was amazed her and her fat mouth hadn't already told Mr. Queen why she was really here.

"How do you know all that," he asked with a frown.

"Know what?" Shit.

"That I dropped out of college four times?"

"It's online. I, uh, researched you first." It wasn't a lie, she did do research. A lot of it.

"Must have dug pretty deep," Mr. Diggle said.

She laughed nervously, "I wanted to make sure my boss wasn't a serial killer or anything." Stop. Talking.

Mr. Queen smirked, at the irony probably, yet still looked skeptical, he didn't say anything, though; he just looked down at the unneeded notes.

As much as she needed to stop talking, she needed to keep talking, just about something else. "I may be overstepping, I probably am, but if your mother wants you to take responsibility why don't you do something you like."

He looked up from the papers; he looked semi-interested, "Like what?"

"Both you and I have no purpose here, you know that right?" She needed to make sure he understood that before she continued.

He nodded. "I'm very aware I have no purpose here. Which also makes you useless."

She knew she was useless here, but the way he said it made her sound like a waste of space.

"You mother is trying to ease you into business, right? That's one of the reasons she made you take this job, but why not get into a business you know?"

"What are you suggesting?"

"Again, I may be overstepping, feel free to tell me to shut up at any time, no, really tell me to shut up and I will," she said quickly. "But, before the island you spent a lot of time partying. Feel free to tell me off at any point. But why not open a bar? Or a night club? Or a strip club? You know those businesses." She closed her eyes and wished she would have left out strip club. But if Felicity had to work for him she didn't want to be here doing absolutely nothing all day.

"Opening a night club won't convince my mother that I'm ready for responsibility, it will only convince her that I'm still an irresponsible college dropout," Oliver said flatly, his eyes met hers.

"But she has a point," Mr. Diggle said from behind her, causing her to jump, she'd forgotten he was there. "You could make use of your fathers run down steel factory." Felicity glanced sideways at Mr. Diggle, she couldn't help thinking that there was a hidden meaning behind what he'd said. The steel factory was probably where the Hood went to play dress up. "I could see a night club there. You definitely have the money to make it happen."

Mr. Queen looked convinced. If the steel factory really was where his 'lair' was, then the club could be an alibi, it wouldn't be weird if Oliver Queen was constantly there; he'd be starting a business. "I'll think about it." He looked like his mind was already made up, though. And Felicity wasn't sure if she should be excited that she wouldn't be fetching him coffee anymore or if she should be scared of Waller and her reaction to Felicity's suggestion.

As much as Felicity hated sitting here being a waste of talent, she didn't want to get fired from A.R.G.U.S. either.

"If, of course, you do happen to open said night club, I know a certain blonde who would be unemployed and in need of a job," Felicity said with an uneasy smile.

Oliver looked her up and down, his gaze lingered far too long on her legs. She shifted uncomfortably under his scrutinizing gaze. "You don't look like the type."

Felicity scoffed, then tried to hide it. Her secretary facade was actually working? There was no way in hell Oliver Queen thought she was some coffee fetching blonde who'd get on her knees whenever her boss told her to. There was no way she convinced him. And if she had, she should have majored in drama, not computer science.

Mr. Queen raised a questioning brow at her.

"I used to be a bartender in college," she lied.

Mr. Queen nodded, "I think I'm better off in my family's company for right now, Ms. Smoak. But I'm not making a decision today."

The harshness in his voice told Felicity that the conversation was over, she headed back to her desk, and for the rest of the day she switched from reading about Queen Consolidated's history on her computer to watching Mr. Queen and Mr. Diggle talk. Mr. Diggle was defiantly in on Oliver Queen's secret. That she was sure of, there was no way Mr. Diggle didn't know. There was also no way she wasn't going to follow Mr. Queen tonight. She needed to make sure she knew where he spent his nights playing dress up before she did anything else.


	5. Chapter Five

At the end of a terribly long, boring day, Felicity jumped out of her car and ran, as fast as she could in heels, to her not so comfortable apartment. She hadn't unpacked many boxes, she, of course, had to find her coffee pot and a few clothes boxes, but that's all she had done so far. She yanked off her heels and wig and started digging around in her boxes. Black clothing. She needed black clothing. She had a few hours until she was to conduct her stakeout, but she still needed to prep. Not that she knew how to prep. Or what she was prepping for. She was completely lost. She groaned. She used to think Waller was strategic; now she wasn't sure. Why hadn't Waller assigned someone who knew what they were doing? Felicity was blind to this line of work. And being blind going into the lion's den wasn't a good idea.

Felicity gave up on looking for her clothes for now, she moved towards her A.R.G.U.S. computer. She had no idea where the old steel factory was located, and since that was her only lead as to where Oliver Queen was spending his nights, she had to follow it. It took her no more than thirty seconds to find Queen Industrial Inc. and send herself directions. That she could do; it was the easy part. Now she had to decide how to go about stalking a Robin Hood impersonator.

After a while she decided she needed to drive by Queen Industrial Inc. before it got dark; map it out. She also decided she needed to put one of the trackers Waller gave her on Mr. Queen, it would make matters a lot easier if she knew where he was at all times. But that was easier said than done.

She found herself with both the wig and heels back on; which pissed her off. She just couldn't risk running into Mr. Queen or Mr. Diggle looking like she just came back from a mosh pit. Her black hair would defiantly make them question the awkward secretary they'd seen hours ago.

Felicity pulled up outside Queen Industrial Inc. She was hesitant at first on whether she should get out of her car or not, but she thought about coming back at night and having no idea where she was walking. She climbed out of her car and almost twisted her ankle on the broken concert. Heels sucked. She walked, carefully this time, towards the fence. She didn't know what she expected to see. The Hood wouldn't come out until it was night, or at least she thought he wouldn't. She continued scoping out the run down building. It was getting dark, and this was how horror movies started; stupid blond in heels can't run from a serial killer so she's slaughtered slowly and brutally. "Wow. So not helping, Felicity," she mumbled to herself.

"Hey, Princess," a scratchy voice called from behind her. Her whole body went ridged; she turned on her heels and almost fell. No more fucking heels, ever. The filthy man smirked at her like he was the hunter and she was the deer. "You lost? A pretty little thing like you shouldn't be out in the Glades at night," his eyes slowly drug up her body, she swallowed. "Bad things happen to pretty woman here." It wasn't a warning; it was a promise.

"Lucky for me I was just leaving," Felicity's voice was more confident than she thought it would be.

The man took a step towards her, she took a step back. She should scream. A smirk crawled on his face, "Scared?"

"No."

He took another step towards her. She took another back. His smirk widened, "Then why do you keep backing away, Princess?"

"Common sense, asshole," Felicity growled. She had no idea where this bravery was coming from but she had a feeling it was going to get her killed.

Felicity slowly slipped out of her heels. He laughed and advanced on her, their eyes meeting, "I'm going to do something about that pretty little mouth of yours." Felicity stilled briefly at his threat, then she lunged and picked up her shoes.

The man smirked, he was only a few feet away now, "Funny how only now you thought of running." Felicity heard a noise behind her, but didn't dare look away from the current danger. In a swift movement the man dove and grabbed at her, she dodged his grasp narrowly, then stabbed him in the arm with her high heel, she heard something metal fall to the ground but then his groan of pain drowned out the sound. He yanked out the heel and threw it on the ground behind himself. Before Felicity could recover from the shock of her attack, the man had slapped her across the face. His massive hand wrapped around her neck just as an arrow drove through his shoulder. A scream ripped the man's throat. His hand went limp, he went limp. Felicity was both pleased and disgusted with herself as she drove the second heel into his thigh and ran for her car.

Her heart was slamming against her chest, trying to break out of her ribcage. She could feel bile creeping up her throat, but she fought it. Heavy footsteps made her spin around, she wasn't sure who she should be more afraid of; herself, her attacker, or her savior. She decided her savior. He looked murderously angry; like he'd put an arrow in her too. Their eyes met, and then something like shock passed over his face for a brief second before returning to anger, he shifted the weight on his feet then passed his bow to his other hand. Felicity tried to stop herself from checking him out, but tight green leather spoke to her in weird ways. Awkward…

Neither said anything, her because if she opened her mouth she'd surly vomit, and she could only guess he wasn't going to say anything for fear of her recognizing his voice. She almost laughed, how could the people in Starling not know Oliver Queen was the Hood? His hood hardly covered his face and whatever that green shit on his face was, it wasn't doing its job, like, at all.

Mr. Queen/Robin Hood took another step towards her and the only thing that remotely shocked her, other than her being attracted to serial killer, was the thing that changed his voice, "What's your name?"

Like you need to know, she wanted to say, except she was too fixated on her surroundings, she expected Mr. Diggle to have a matching hood. She drew her eyes up to his again. "Meghan."

His lips twitched at her lie. She dared him to contradict her. "Next time you decide to wander the Glades, don't." His voice modifier made his words harsh and menacing, she should be afraid, but she found it oddly attractive. Which needed to stop. She needed to stop thinking about him that way. She was not going to be Hannah McKay and he was not going to be Dexter.

She nodded, and turned towards for her car, she turned back around fast, "Thank you. For saving me," she clarified. Again, she turned for her car; his voice stopped her this time. She turned and looked at him.

"Next time run."

"I know. It was stupid not to. He could have hurt me."

"I meant from me."


	6. Chapter Six

For a brief time in her life Felicity entertained the idea of becoming an actress. Her career choice always came back to computer sciences, though. So, her acting career had been set aside and put on a stand still. Until now.

Sure, she was technically "acting" like a personal assistant already, and it was working, but she was about to pull a stunt that would be Oscar worthy.

Last night her run in with the Hood had made her nervous, but also assured. She dismissed his "run away from me, not the man trying to hurt you", she couldn't see him hurting her. She could see him telling her to stay away in case she recognized him, but not because he would hurt her. At least that's what she wanted to believe. Today she wasn't going to be the nervous assistant. She knew what she was getting into now.

She rubbed her thumb against her forefinger, trying to relax herself. She was jittery, she was about to go from awkward EA to sultry EA in the span of a day. The elevator dinged and she stepped out. Her heels clicked loudly, but unlike before they weren't mocking her; they were encouraging her on. Felicity doubted Waller would consider her outfit as "work place friendly", but Felicity wasn't trying to be. She was trying to be distracting. Her tight blood red dress reached mid-thigh, at best. Her hem dipped just a few inches under her collarbone and most of her back was exposed, yet covered by the fake blond hair falling over her shoulders.

She strode confidently into Mr. Queen's office; he looked up from his phone slowly at the sound of her heels harassing the marble floor. His mouth went slack, he recovered quickly, though, which Felicity inwardly applauded him for. Mr. Diggle was leaning against the wall; his eyes flew to Mr. Queen.

Felicity beamed at them, "Good morning, Mr. Queen. Mr. Diggle." She walked right up to his desk and grinned.

"Ms. Smoak?" Mr. Queen asked, his eyes drifted downward before he could stop himself. She smiled wider.

"I was going to make a coffee run, but I thought I should double check with you two first." She paused, smiled, and continued, "Is black still fine? I really just need to get your regulars down. I know it's only my second day but I like being organized. Is black your regular, Mr. Queen?" She let her hand fall onto the cold desk, Mr. Queen's eyes followed.

He swallowed awkwardly. "Yes." Cleared his throat. "Yes. Black is fine."

She smiled and turned towards Mr. Diggle, he was glaring at Mr. Queen. She bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing. When their eyes met he shook it off, "What would you like, Mr. Diggle?"

"I'm good today, thanks."

Felicity's smile faltered for a brief second at his words before returning in full force, "Okay." Felicity exited the office, her hips swaying more than necessary. Her smile immediately falling back into a frown, her face hurt. A muffled "Get yourself together, Queen" could be heard from an annoyed Mr. Diggle as she neared the elevator.

When the elevator chimed its arrival once again she plastered on her biggest, fakest smile and walked back into Mr. Queen's office. She carried a tray of coffees in one hand and a bag of bagels in the other. "I know you said you didn't want a coffee, Mr. Diggle, but Mr. Queen is such a bore. I'm surprised he hasn't already put you to sleep." She didn't expect Mr. Diggle to laugh, but he did. She guessed it was because Mr. Queen was anything but boring. What with his secret identity and all. She walked over and let Mr. Diggle take his coffee. "I just assumed you wanted black, but I can go fetch you another coffee if you want."

"It's fine, Ms. Smoak."

Felicity walked around Mr. Queen's desk, her smile may or may not have turned into a devilish grin as she continued to babble on, "And I got you bagels. I didn't know QC had bagels until today. But how could I? It's only my second day. It seems longer, though. Anyways, I thought you could eat. You look like you sleep a maximum of two hours a night. I'm not saying you look bad, because you don't, you look tired, is all." She let out a nervous laugh; his head was tilted to the side, his eyes boring into hers. "I brought you a lot of flavors." She started shuffling around the items, a few napkins fluttered to the floor. "This one is plane. I got a cheddar one. And a jalapeño, and…" she continued to juggle everything in her hands until her coffee, and his, "accidentally" flew into Mr. Queen's lap.

Mr. Queen was out of his chair in a split second, followed by a growly "fuck" from his mouth.

Felicity gasped, dropped to her knees and started dabbing his soaking pants with napkins, "Oh my God. I'm so sorry," she kept repeating over and over. He stood ridged, his eyes pinched closed; when they opened they were horrified. Felicity widened her own. "Oh my God." She stood quickly, her hands up in surrender, and a blush spreading over her cheeks, not from her well thought out plan, but from the erection that was just a foot away from her face. "I'm so sorry. Oh my God…" His eyes were dark and never wavering, his face was red, too, but it could have been from a number of things: burning coffee on his pants, anger, embarrassment…

"Diggle, can you go get a towel or something?" Mr. Queen snarled, his eyes never leaving Felicity's.

Felicity heard Mr. Diggle's footsteps head out the office door. Mr. Queen just continued to stare at her, jaw tight. "I'm so sorry-" she whispered but Mr. Queen already turned on his heels and headed for his secluded bathroom. Felicity fought the grin creeping onto her lips, she watched Mr. Queen diapered, then looked over her shoulder to make sure Mr. Diggle was gone.

She let out a quiet laugh, then grinned wickedly, she turned her attention to Mr. Queen's desk, snatched up his phone, removed the case, looked over her shoulder, reached down her bra to remove the tracking devise, and inserted it into his phone.

Her grin amplified; she should have been an actress.


	7. Chapter Seven

**AN: Sorry I haven't updated in a few weeks, I got a Wattpad and kinda got absorbed in another story. Anyways, here's the next chapter, I'll try and update sooner. I hope you enjoy!**

 

Felicity had decided to look into Mr. Diggle after the coffee incident. She realized she should have done it when she first found out he was Mr. Queen's bodyguard, but she'd been distracted.

The deeper Felicity had dug the more she found, ex-military, served three tours in Afghanistan. Brother Andy Diggle was murdered. John married a fellow soldier, then got divorced. Felicity stared dumbfounded at her screen for a full minute. Lyla Michaels. Waller's Lyla is also Diggle's Lyla. Well, was. Felicity had worked with Lyla on countless occasions, and now the mention of "Johnny" seemed so… strange. The world really was a small, tangled web.

 

The days dragged by so slowly. Mr. Diggle had lost his easy smiles with Felicity; they were replaced by suspicious glances. He watched her like a hawk. Mr. Queen only occasionally observed her from his desk, but not with hostile eyes like Mr. Diggle. She was honestly surprised she hadn't been fired. She had practically begged him not to fire her; he kept telling her he understood that she was nervous and that accidents happen. She could hear Mr. Diggle telling Mr. Queen something was up with "Ms. Smoak", Mr. Queen always waved him off, though.

Felicity was tapping her pen absently on her desk when Mr. Queen and Mr. Diggle appeared in fount of her. Quickly, she sits up straighter. "Mr. Queen—"

He drops a manila folder on her desk, he looks angry. "Um…"

"Open it," he says.

Felicity looks from Mr. Queen's angry face to Mr. Diggle's somewhat smug one. "Okay…" She opens the file; the picture attached is from freshman year during college when she still had brown hair. She looks up, then back down. "What am I looking at?" She knew what she was looking at, but it was practically empty, whoever they hired to look into her was a really shitty hacker.

"See," Mr. Queen starts, "I just don't understand why you're my assistant. You graduated from MIT in computer science. Not the secretarial arts. So why are you sitting at this desk?"

Felicity swallows, "Um, because Queen Consolidated wasn't hiring in the IT department."

Mr. Queen nods slowly. "They aren't, no. But Walter Steele, he's had your name on a list. He offered you a job in the IT department your last year of college, that offer still stands firm. But you know that, right? He has a list, and you're names on the top of that list. So I'm going to ask again. Why are you here?"

"I. I just needed a job—"

"I know when people are lying to me, Ms. Smoak," he growls. "Who are you working for?"

She falters. "No one. You."

"If you're not going to tell me, I'm going to assume. I think you're working for Palmer Tech or someone else. I think whoever your boss is is having you dig up as much information on QC as you can." Felicity laughs quietly to herself. She had a really awful plan. "What?" he growled.

"I think I've made my intentions really clear, to be honest," she says flatly.

She glances back at Mr. Diggle, then meets Mr. Queen's eyes. "Can… can we talk alone." She really, really was going to regret this.

Mr. Queen sighs, "Diggle."

Without another word Mr. Diggle leaves. He looked smug, like he caught a burglar.

Mr. Queen motions for his office, then walks in. Felicity fallows slowly. This was a really, really terrible idea. He sits in his chair and gestures for her to take a seat. "I'd rather stand…" Such a bad idea.

"Um… I don't know how or where to start. I mean…" she had no idea what to say. "I was hoping for a job in the IT department. I'd like to be transferred, but…" she trailed off. She knew how stupid her plan was. But if Waller was right about him, it'd work.

"But what?" Mr. Queen says, eying her.

It was definitely going to work…

Felicity awkwardly laughs, then takes a couple steps toward him, hand skimming the desk lightly. "Mr. Diggle was right. My intentions aren't very… innocent." Such a horrible idea…

His eyes widen at that, and she has to fight a laugh bubbling in her chest. He clears his throat, "And what are your alternative intentions?" He's watching her intently with his dark eyes. Her mind keeps telling her to stop, but she doesn't know what else to do. How else to convince him.

She smiles devilishly and takes another step toward him. He's close now; she could just reach out and touch his face. "I think you know," is all she says, but it has the desired effect. She looks down at his strained lap not so subtly and bits her lip. Such a fucking terrible idea. "Mr. Queen," she says in a sultry voice.

As if suddenly he understood, his hands shot out and gripped her hips roughly, pulling her onto his lap. She would have preferred the desk… Her skirt awkwardly crawled up her thighs and she regretted her plan all at once. His lips were on hers in a second, his hands in her hair. In her wig. She pulled her face back, hands pushing his chest lightly for a little room, he stopped, eyes flashing. "Don't stop. Just don't mess up my hair," she says, her mouth already back to his. His hands roamed her body, pulling her blouse out of her skirt, kneading her thighs...

"Oliver Jonas Queen!"

She jumps off his lap, her legs shaking violently and she stumbles backwards into his desk. Her eyes wide. Mr. Queen stands right away. Felicity pulls her skirt down, face flushed, and panicked eyes on Mr. Queen. She turned uncomfortably: Mrs. Queen. Of course it would be his mother. Such a bad idea. "I… I'm, uh, I'm going to… go. Now." She shuffles away, head down, face red, and she doesn't know what possesses her to say it, but then, "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Queen."


	8. Chapter Eight

"Get back here. Now!" Mrs. Queen snapped, Felicity was halfway to the elevator, almost in the clear. She froze in place.

"Now," Mrs. Queen bit out.

Felicity turned, her face burning. But so was her chin where Mr. Queen's rough stubble scrapped and scratched her skin raw. She'd have a really bad rash for sure.

"Mom," Mr. Queen gritted out between clenched teeth, "I'm the one who—" Felicity was surprised Mr. Queen would lie for her. Or, maybe it was lying. Felicity tempted him, yes, but he made the first move.

"Oh, I have no doubt about that!" Mrs. Queen snarled. She rounded on Felicity, "You! Get over here."

Felicity walked timidly toward Mrs. Queen, thinking this woman may even be scarier than Waller.

"How much is enough?"

"What?" Felicity said shocked.

"How much is enough to sweep this little incident under the rug?"

Felicity swallowed the anger rising in her throat, "I wasn't planning on saying anything…"

"Oh, really?"

"Yes," Felicity said defensively.

Mrs. Queen laughed bitterly. "Isn't that what you people do? Tell your conquest stories to your other whore friends? How many points is my idiotic son worth?"

Felicity took a step forward, than thought better of it; words won wars, not fists. "Ten," Felicity spit out.

Mrs. Queen's face contorted; anger turned into rage in a split second. Mrs. Queen wasn't a woman to be trifled with, which Felicity should have acknowledged. "Is this a game to you?"

Felicity smiled despite the hidden threat in Mrs. Queen's words.

"Do you understand the power I hold?"

Felicity knew, she just didn't care.

"I can make it so you never get a job again."

Everything about this woman made Felicity want to rebel; not hide under the radar, Felicity wanted to fight this woman. Tooth and nail. "Good thing you'll compensate well for my silence," Felicity said with a condensing smile.

A choking noise came from Mr. Queen, his lips were pressed in a tight line. Felicity felt empowered.

"Do you think this is funny?" Mrs. Queen barked, turning back to her son. "You degrading our name, Oliver. Your father's name. All his hard work, you're ruining it all. And for what? Your personal whore?"

Felicity bawled her hands into fists at her sides. Apparently, Mrs. Queen didn't care if her son degraded women.

Mrs. Queen continued, "You need to grow up. Take responsibility for once in your life. Your "fun"," she turned, pointing to Felicity before continuing, "is going to ruin this company."

Flatly, Mr. Queen spoke, "I don't care about the company, I never have. It's not something I'm interested in; it's something I was pushed into. But you know what I am interested in?" he paused for effect, "Bars. Strip joints. Nightclubs. Is that more or less embarrassing than sleeping with my assistant?"

His mother looked like she'd been slapped. She turned for Felicity again, and in a low, hostile voice, "You're done. Fired. I wouldn't stay in Starling City if I were you; no one will hire a whore."

"On the contrary, lots of people employ whores, Mrs. Queen," Felicity said softly before strutting off towards the elevator. Once safely inside, her hands begun to shake, as she came to terms with what she'd just done. Waller was going to have her neck for that.

Felicity drove to A.R.G.U.S. headquarters, her hands shaking the hole time, she was going to be fired from there too—or killed—she just knew it. Felicity walked into the building, ripping her blond wig off as she went. She headed straight for Waller's office. She tried finding the confidence she had felt from standing up to Mrs. Queen, but none would come. She rose her hand to knock but hesitated, what could she say?

"Ms. Smoak. What an unexpected pleasure," Waller said flatly from behind her, Felicity turned, Waller walked past her and opened the door. "Have a seat."

Panic flooded Felicity's chest as she took a seat in front of an annoyed Amanda Waller. Waller's eyes were narrowed in on Felicity, ready to skin her alive. "What are you doing here, Ms. Smoak?" she asked in a authoritative voice.

Felicity shrank in the chair and tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear. "You told me if anything critical came up…"

Waller just stared at her, eyes burning holes into Felicity. "Well? What?"

"Mr. Diggle—Mr. Queen's bodyguard— thought I had… other motives in working for Mr. Queen after he had someone from the IT department look into me. So I gave him a different reason and I improvised, not my best idea, and then Mrs. Queen… fired me."

Curiosity passed over her face before returning to impassive, "What did you do?"

"I… Well, me and Mr. Queen… I made a move… And his mom walked in."

Waller smirked.

Felicity winced. "What?" she asked timidly.

"What exactly happened?" Waller looked amused. Something so foreign it made Felicity anxious.

Felicity's face heated up again. "Mr. Queen asked what my intentions were… and I… made my intentions clear. And then… his mom came in. And she tried to buy me off. Until I pissed her off. Then she fired me."

To Felicity's surprise Waller laughed and shook her head. Not her condensing laugh. A real one. Or a fake one; Felicity wouldn't know. "What?" Felicity asked.

"Anything else?"

"No?"

"Then you're free to go."

"Are you not… angry?"

"I'm more entertained than anything, Ms. Smoak."

Felicity wanted to ask why, but thought the answer was probably obvious. Mr. Queen was a man-whore. "Waller, I… I don't think I'm the right person for this job. I'm going to get caught. And how can I go back there and gain his trust? I'm not qualified for this job. He's going to kill me."

"You're not qualified for the job, no."

"Then why did you chose me? Have someone who's good at all this do it."

Waller sighed, like Felicity was clueless, and opened the door, showing Felicity out. "You're good at this, Ms. Smoak."

"No, I'm not." Felicity stood and walked to the door.

"Yes, you are. You just don't know what assets I take into play."

Felicity opened her mouth, then closed it.

"And, Ms. Smoak? Call before you come running to A.R.G.U.S. headquarters."

Felicity nodded then walked out through the door without a backward glance.


	9. Chapter Nine

A few nights after Felicity got fired by Moira Queen she got a surprise visit. She had just gotten out of the shower; she still had her hair wrapped in a towel on her head as she began printing suspicious wire transfers Moira Queen had made when her son came back. She boiled water for tea before bed, she was just walking out of the kitchen with her favorite mug in her hand when she looked out the window. She dropped the mug, it shattered and sprayed hot tea all over her bare feet, but she didn’t look away from the hooded figure outside on her fire escape watching her. It shouldn’t have scared her; the guy was a psychopath, she should have expected this. But he just stood there—well, more like hunched there—and watched her. She watched with wide eyes, as he jumped over the railing. She took a step toward the window, but stopped when she stepped on a piece of her mug. Her favorite mug. Damn sexy, billionaire vigilant. 

...

“Jobless”, Felicity had nothing to do besides watch the tracker she placed on Mr. Queen. She watched him travel from place to place for the last two weeks. She had no doubt that he was using the old steel factory as his secret lair, and she was ready to infiltrate it. She had tonight planned out, she had coffee brewing constantly, and her black clothes ready.  
Now all she needed was for Mr. Queen/The Hood to go home, and hope he didn’t come to her apartment for another peeping session, although she kept her curtains closed now. It was well past two in the morning and if it weren’t for the constant coffee and adrenaline, Felicity would be passed out in her bed right now. But she had a job to do. It was an easy job as long as nothing went wrong, all she was doing was mapping out his layout, updating his far-too-easy-to-penetrate firewalls and anything additional she saw fit.  
She watched his tracker move from the steel factory to the Queen’s mansion, then headed towards the lair. 

She stood with a paperclip trying to unlock the door—something Cooper had taught her when they started dating— every once in a while she’d look over her head and make sure no one was watching her. The door unlocked with a click and she pumped a fist in the air, and scurried inside the dark building.  
It was dark and dusty; she whipped out her flashlight and scanned the place. She’d “downloaded” the blueprint onto her phone, but she didn’t think that helped now, everything was different. It did look like he was preparing to open a club after all, everything was being remodeled. She walked around with her hand on the wall until she found a keypad and assumed that’s where he hid his lair.  
She held her light up to the keypad, four keys looked more worn than the others, and they looked greasy. She glanced over her shoulder again then punched in a combination of the four. And again. And again. And again. Until the door buzzed and a green light appeared. Her heart slammed into her chest as she pushed the door open and became engulfed in darkness.  
She pointed her light down the stairs and started her way down; her feet hitting the metal stairs rang out through the empty space. She held her breath as she went down, her eyes searching in the darkness. The light caught on a monitor when she hit the landing. She walked over, spinning in a circle as she did so. She turned on the computer, “You’d think a billionaire would have a nice, high-quality computer…” she mumbled to herself as the machine turned on. She waked around looking for a light source, but when she found it she decided against it. It’d be easy to hide in the dark if anything went wrong.  
She waited for a few minutes for the computer to turn on, she walked around in the dark space lit by the monitor and her flashlight, she found his hood, before she could stop herself her hand shot out and skimmed the worn leather with the tips of her fingers. She moved around, coming back to the computer, she logged in and suck a flash drive in the port and waited. She updated his really shitty fire wall. It’s like he was begging to be caught, that’s how shitty it was. She started downloading all his files onto her flash drive; while she waited she looked around once more. She reached out and touched one of his arrows, it was sharp and rugged. And probable been in someone. She dropped it with a clank onto the table, that’s when she noticed a small, worn journal. She picked it up and opened it, names. A whole lot of names. She walked back over to the computer and laid it in front of the monitor for light and sat down as she took pictures of each page. She was half way through when the computer beeped. She yanked out the flash drive and stuck it in her bra, and continued taking pictures of the names.  
Some names were crossed off, and she wondered if this is what the Hood used to target his victims. “Weird-ass vigilantly,” she muttered.  
Suddenly a hand clamped over her mouth. She screamed, but it was muffled, another hand smacked her head violently against the table, gripping her hair roughly.  
“Who the fuck are you?” the voice seethed in her ear. She tried pushing back in the chair to hit him but the weird head-on-table angle wouldn’t allow much strength. He moved his hand from her mouth but clamped it on her neck. “Who do you work for?” he bit out.  
She choked out a breathy laugh, it’s not like she had plastic surgery, her hair was just black. Everything else was the same. Mr. Queen wasn’t as observant as she thought.  
His grip tightened around her neck, “I could snap your neck with little effort, do you think that’s funny? Answer my question!” he growled, tightening his grip further.  
“I worked for you, Mr. Queen,” Felicity breathed.  
His hold on her went slack for a second before yanking her up to her feet and pulling her back against his chest, his hands pinning hers to her chest. She tried getting out of his grasp, she wiggled and yanked, her self-defense classes long forgotten.  
“Struggling will only make it worse.”  
She closed her eyes and threw her hips back into his, jerking her arms out to her side. She stumbled forward out of his grasp and tried making a break for it, but he was too fast, she only got a few steps ahead of him before her he threw her to the ground, straddled her lap, his hands pinning hers to the ground. She struggled only briefly against his weight.  
Recognition flashed across his face along with rage, a scowl on his face, his blue eyes piercing into hers. “I liked you better as a blonde,” he snarled, his face inches from hers.


	10. Chapter Ten

"And I liked it better when I was on top," Felicity growled, jerking her hands off the ground about an inch before having them slammed back down into the cold, dusty floor. She let out a breath of air and jerked her hips up at the same time as her arms, her legs and arms flailing to no avail.

"Don't waste your strength." He looked even more menacing than he had the first night she saw him, anger surfaced in his eyes.

"I bet you're so proud of yourself. Pinning a girl to the floor who's less than half your weight must be such an accomplishment."

He smirked but applied more pressure to her hands.

She stopped struggling, trying to build a plan in her head; she worked better mentally than physically.

"What are you doing down here?" he said in a low, intimidating voice.

She smirked, "You mean down underneath you?"

He digs his nails into her wrists making her wince. "I'm not in the mood for your fucking smart-ass mouth."

"You were a few weeks ago."

He looked two seconds away from snapping. Her neck, that is.

"I'm help-ing," she said between breaths.

His eyebrows knitted together, his eyes hardening even more. "What do you mean "helping"?" He pushed his palms down into her writs when he said "helping".

She swallowed her whimper. "Your firewall was… was really easy to penetrate. I fixed it."

"Why?"

"It doesn't matter why." she seethed. "Get. Off. Me."

He pressed her wrists firmer into ground, leaning in closer to her face, his mouth a breath away from hers, she thought about maybe smacking her forehead against his, but she thought better of it. "You're in no position to be telling me what to do."

Felicity leaned head up and positioned her mouth close to his ear. "I'm in a position for something," she whispered provocatively. She laid her head back down on the ground a smirk playing on her lips.

He licked his lips almost deliberately, his eyes dropping to her lips briefly, "I agree, Miss Smoak"

"I can tell you agree by the way your arrow is stabbing me," Felicity said seductively. She wanted to try and break away again, even if just for a second, her wrists were killing her.

He laughed, it was hollow and cold, he removed his palm from her wrist then pushed his forearm down on her windpipe, she yelped but it came out only as a breath. "That little trap of yours is going to get you in a lot of trouble."

A loud, metallic clanging sounded, drawing both Felicity and Mr. Queen's attention from their current situation.

"What the hell?"

Felicity recognized the voice: Mr. Diggle.

She jerked her body forward in a lame attempt to free herself. Mr. Queen growled and slammed his forearm back into her throat. "Stay. Down," he spit out.

"What the hell?" Mr. Diggle repeated, his footsteps stopping by Felicity's head. "I told you. I fucking told you she was trouble."

"I'm helping you, asshole," Felicity gasped, her free hand prying at Mr. Queen's arm, trying to loosen his hold on her throat.

Mr. Diggle crouched next to her, his gun in view of Felicity's panicked eyes. "Helping how?"

She choked on her words, "Just. Helping."

"Why?"

Felicity's wide eyes dropped to the slick, black gun. A reluctant look of contemplation passed on Mr. Diggle's face before he removed the clip in his gun and cocked it, the bullet falling in his hand. "Man, get your hand off her throat."

Mr. Queen did as he was told, hesitantly, of course. "We can't trust her."

As soon as her lungs got air they released it in a breath of mumbled words, "You can't kill me, either. Not unless you want to clean up a bloody mess and hide my body and try and remove all your fingerprints. It'd be a tough job considering you like feeling me up."

His arm pressed into her neck again once again, harder this time. Her eyes bulged out of her eyes as her free hand tried once again to remove the thing blocking air from filling her lungs.

"Oliver!" Mr. Diggle growled, his hand gripping Mr. Queen's shoulder and wrenching it back.

Mr. Queen huffed and removed his arm, his palms finding her wrists again; she winced at the agonizing pressure he was applying.

"If I was going to tell the police I would have done it by now," Felicity choked out.

"You strike me as a blackmailer," Mr. Diggle said.

"If I were a blackmailer I would have taken his mother up on her offer. I'm sure she would have paid well. And then I would blackmail you. And I'm not doing either."

"So what are you doing?"

"Helping. Get it through your thick sculls."

"Why are you helping?" Mr. Queen barked.

"Because you helped me. That creepy guy, you shot him. You saved me."

"But you already knew then, didn't you? That's why you were there."

Felicity only nodded.

"How did you find out?"

Felicity laughed a little, "You wear face paint, not a mask."

"Another smart-ass remark and I swear to God I'll put an arrow in you."

"Your arrow," she mumbled. It's like she couldn't stop herself. Maybe she did want him to impale her with his arrow… She shook her head at her deranged thought.

"I am so fucking close to snapping your neck," Mr. Queen scowled.

"Oh, no, I'm quivering in fear." She giggled, "Get it beca—"

His palm dug into her wrist, erupting a cry of pain from her throat.

"God! It was a pun, you fucking dickhead."

"I'd be a lot easier to kill you."

"Oh, so you're into necrophilia? You're going to kill me then fuck me? That's really fucked up."

Mr. Queen's callused hand clamped around her throat and squeezed.

"Oliver!" Mr. Diggle warned, a hint of a chuckle in his voice.

"She's literally asking for it, Diggle!"

She knew she was, but there was something really fun about fucking with him.

"I have information," Felicity breathed, ready to give in, she had her fun taunting Mr. Queen, but he seemed close to losing it.

He pulled back and looked at her with his piercing eyes, he loosened his hold on her neck but his rough hand remained, "What kind of information?" he asked skeptically.

"When you got back from Lian Yu, you and Tommy Merlyn were kidnapped. I know who it was. Who paid them to kidnap you. I have the wire transfers printed," she said in one breath, afraid she wouldn't get another, she probably wouldn't have had Mr. Diggle not been present.

"Who?"

"Your mother."

"You're lying," he spit, his fingertips now digging into her neck painfully.

"No. I'm. Not. I have the wire transfers. She paid those men to kidnap you. I don't know why but she did."

"You're lying." Even as he said it he released her neck from his vice grip.

"I'm not," she said.

"She's not," Mr. Diggle said quietly.

Both Mr. Queen's and Felicity's heads turned to look at him.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**AN: Believe me when I say I know Felicity doesn't act like this, it's an AU, and I'm a personal believer in the idea that the choices people make help define them. I also know I haven't updated in a long time, I've been so absorbed in my wattpad story that I've neglected to update this one, so I apologize it's been over a month since a chapter's been added, hopefully now that it's summer I'll upload more frequently.

 

Felicity looked between the two; Mr. Diggle looked like a weight had been lifted onto his chest and placed onto Mr. Queen’s. Felicity wondered how long Mr. Diggle had been keeping this from Mr. Queen.

“What do you mean?” growled Mr. Queen, his eyes digging into Mr. Diggle’s.

“I mean I have proof,” Diggle said, his hands running over his face.

Felicity turned her attention back to an enraged Mr. Queen. She tried slipping out from underneath him, but his hands shot out and took hold of her wrists again, his eyes boring into hers.

“Get off her, man.”

Mr. Queen clenched his jaw, and glared at her. He didn’t look like he was going to let her go anytime soon, but then he surprised her by getting off slowly, air seemed to rush back into her lungs, so she laid there for a moment just breathing and rubbing her soar wrists. “What? Don’t expect me to help you up,” Mr. Queen seethed, walking a small circle around her, looking down at her as if she were trash.

Felicity sat up and only glared in response, still soothing her wrists. She hated Waller more in that moment, for sending her here to fend for herself against a lunatic. But she needed to regain composure, needed to calm down, Mr. Queen may piss her off to no end but her acting this way is only going to end badly.

Mr. Queen groaned then stopped circling, his hand extended down for her. She looked up at the hand, but thought better of it. He did just have his hand around her neck, and he did just tell her he wasn’t going to help her up. He shook his head and let out a hollow laugh, “Fine.”

Felicity reached up and took his rough hand before he could drop it back down to his side. He yanked her up, not very softly, but also not as rough as she thought he would have, then he corralled her to the desk she was sitting at when he slammed her head down against it. He picked up her phone and stuck it into his pants pockets. “Um, that. That was mine,” Felicity said awkwardly.

“Don’t you think I know that? Don’t you think I know what you were doing down here? Collecting evidence.”

“Um, I—I’m a hacker,” she said. She realized she should have elaborated, because that expiation sounded stupid.

He looked down at her with a scowl that would make any sane person run.

“I just meant that even if you were to keep my phone, I can take the information I put on it in twenty seconds. Tops.”

He pulled the phone out of his pocket and slammed it down on the table. “I want you out of here. Now!”

Before she could open her mouth he cut her off.

“If I see you lurking near here again, you’ll come off a lot worse than just bruised wrists. I’ll snap that pretty little neck of yours, do you understand?”

“Oliver!” Mr. Diggle snapped.

Mr. Queen gave her a menacing glower.

Felicity glared back, “Do you want me to leave before or after I give you the wire transfers?”

“I don’t trust you. Or any information you claim to give.”

“Damn it, Oliver, if you don’t trust the girl, trust me,” Mr. Diggle snapped, his hand digging into his pocket and pulling out a bug. He pressed play before Mr. Queen could open his fat mouth and say something stupid to defend him mother.

The three stayed dead quite as Mrs. Queen’s voice filled the lair. Mr. Queen’s brows knitted together when the recorder mentioned the remains of the Queen’s Gambit and how his mother knew the boat had been sabotaged.

Mr. Queen snatched the recorder from Mr. Diggle’s hand and walked over to stairs and listened again.

Mr. Diggle looked up at Felicity. “I don’t trust you either.”

Felicity nodded, “But thank you. For not letting him hurt me. That was… nice.” Felicity frowned at her choice of words. Nice is how she describes a guy she friendzones, not a guy who stands by and watches as lunatic pins her to the floor.

“What are you really doing here, kid?”

“Um, I live here. Not here here, obviously, but in Starling.”

“No, why are you here? Why are you helping the Hood? Why not turn him in?”

“Because I live here,” Felicity said again, trying to find a believable lie, “and despite how Mr. Queen handles bad guys, he handles them. Kinda makes living here safer. Kinda.”

Mr. Diggle still looked skeptical, but he didn’t say anything else.

Now that she was in the liar, now that Mr. Queen knew she knew who he was, she thought she shouldn’t leave. Waller wants her to keep an eye on him, cover his tracks but doing it from afar and in secret wouldn’t be easy. She was here and he wasn’t ripping her head, it was progress. Anything done without his knowledge would only further his distrust in her. She needed to slowly earn his trust—not that she thought that would be easy, she wasn’t even sure if Mr. Queen trusted Mr. Diggle.

Mr. Queen came back awhile later and handed Mr. Diggle the recorder, then turned to Felicity with an annoyed/angry look. “Do you have the wire transfers with you?”

Felicity nodded. “If I can use your computer I can pull it up.”

“Fine.”

Felicity sat down in the computer chair and pulled out her thumbdrive and put it into the computer. “This will only take a second,” she mumbled as she clicked through her files. “Here.”

Mr. Queen and Mr. Diggle leaned over her shoulders, looking at the screen.

“Can you print them?” Mr. Queen asked.

“Not unless you have a hidden printer I’m not aware of.” Felicity didn’t like the two of them hovering over her so she got up from the chair, Mr. Queen sat down seconds after she left the chair and stared at the screen.

Mr. Diggle exhaled a breath, “Oliver, you got to admit this doesn’t look good.”

Mr. Queen skimmed through each document then with a reluctant sigh he stood up, grabbed his suit in one hand and bow in the other. “I think it’s time the Hood payed Moira Queen a visit.”

“You actually call yourself the Hood, like, when no one’s around?” Felicity asked.

Mr. Queen pressed his lips into a firm line. “Don’t be here when I get back,” Mr. Queen warned. “If you are, you’re not going to like the consequences.” Felicity drew in a breath, and watched him walk up the stairs.

“He also talks in third person. Makes me uneasy,” Mr. Diggle said with a half smile half smirk.

Felicity smiled, but looked to the stairs where Mr. Queen had disappeared. “Shouldn’t you go with him?”

“He can handle himself,” Mr. Diggle said. And after a moment he added, “And you can handle yourself, can’t you, Ms. Smoak? Not many people would stand up to Mr. Queen like that. That takes real courage.”

“Or stupidity,” Felicity said quietly. Felicity couldn’t help the way she had acted when Mr. Queen found her in his lair, she’d been scared. And she may as well have been an animal backed into a corner; nothing she had done seemed to be of her own accord.

When Felicity got to the stairs she thought about all that went wrong tonight, and despite all Mr. Queen’s threats, she hand a job to do. And something told her tonight’s mishaps were far from over, so she turned around and faced Mr. Diggle, “Tell Mr. Queen if he gets into trouble my mini cooper will be on the highest floor in the parking garage. I know it’s not really helpful, but it’s something.” She headed up a few stairs before Mr. Diggle responded.

“Why? Just curious, the man did just have you pinned to the ground, after all.”

Maye it was this job, or maybe she’d always been good at it but the lie came easy. “I feel like I owe him. For that night, I don’t know if he told you, but he saved me. And I bet he feels pretty stupid about it now, considering I infiltrated his lair. But I am trying to help.”

Mr. Diggle looked at her like he was trying to figure out what was going on in her head. “I’ll tell him.”

Felicity nodded and pulled out her phone and as soon as she was in her car she followed Mr. Queen’s tracker to the Queen Consolidated building.

 

She sat for a long time in the parking garage, but his tracker only started moving about the same time the police sirens started wailing. Minutes later a hooded figure was shuffling through the empty parking garage holding its shoulder.

“God, I hate being his babysitter,” she mumbled as she started her car and backed out of the garage, once her headlights were on his back he turned and looked up at her mini cooper with a pained expression, before staggering toward it. He needed a mask. Why didn’t he buy a damn mask, he was a millionaire—scratch that, billionaire?

He opened the door and collapsed in the backseat. “I didn’t need your help,” he said through gritted teeth.

“You need Dr. Phil,” she said before turning around. “You’re bleeding. You’re mother shot you.”

“I don’t need to be told that,” he spit out.

“Well, then a simple ‘Thank you, Felicity’ wouldn’t hurt, but instead you’re being an asshole. An asshole who’s bleeding in my backseat. And I’m ninety-four percent sure blood stains aren’t covered in my lease.”

“Are you just going to sit there and nag me, or are you going to drive?”

“Waller better give me a fucking raise,” Felicity said inaudibly as she started for the lair.


End file.
